INTERROGATIVE CLAUSES, NEGATION AND THE DO-OPERATOR
In interrogative clauses, the Finite verb precedes the Subject, the rest remaining the same.
When no operator is already available in the clause, a form of do (do, does, did) is brought in as a dummy operator. That is, it has no semantic value but simply fulfils the syntactic requirement of ‘finite operator’, as illustrated in the last three examples. The functions of the operators that interest us here are, first, that they signal by position that the clause is interrogative, and second, they carry polarity, that is, they are either positive or negative. This positive–negative contrast is an essential semantic feature associated with finiteness. In order to be affirmed or denied, a proposition has to be either positive or negative.
Negation is usually expressed by the negative particle not, which follows the operator or is joined to it as n’t. Note that the negative interrogative with 1st person singular ‘I’ is not *amn’t but aren’t in Standard English. Other exceptions include can’t, won’t and shan’t. (Operators also function in question tags, both positive and negative, as illustrated here and discussed with further examples shortly)
Interrogative clauses typically occur in interpersonal situations, and their direct speech- act function or force is to ask for information. There are two main types of interrogative, the yes/no type and the wh-type. The examples we have seen so far are of the yes/no type.
